Mel Kiper projects Los Angeles Chargers to draft JC Latham

A lot of attention will be on the Los Angeles Chargers this upcoming season with new head coach Jim Harbaugh at the helm. But a successful 2024 NFL Draft for Harbaugh and Los Angeles could be the difference in the team meeting or exceeding exactions this upcoming season.

Los Angeles has the No. 5 overall pick in the upcoming draft, a pick that many analysts expect them to trade out of including ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. He forecasted the Chargers trading their first-round pick to the Minnesota Vikings in exchange for their No. 11 and No. 23 overall picks along with a 2025 first-round pick in his latest mock draft.

In his scenario, Harbaugh’s former quarterback J.J. McCarthy lands in Minnesota. And despite the Chargers having a multitude of team needs, Kiper believes Los Angeles will select an offensive lineman with the No. 11 overall pick.

“They want a right tackle who can be a guy, can be a mauler as a run blocker, a physical presence to help that running game,” Kiper recently said on ESPN’s SportsCenter special. “That’s what Jim Harbaugh wants to do, old school, play physical football, run the football.”

Wide receiver is another position of need for Los Angeles, especially after losing Keenan Allen and Mike Williams this offseason. Kiper believes the Chargers should address this later in the draft given the amount of talent at the position, penciling in Alabama offensive lineman JC Latham as their first selection of the 2024 draft.

“[For] Justin Herbert, can add a receiver at 23. JC Latham is a kid, the dancing bear at right tackle,” Kiper said. “Yes he needs to clean up a few things, he had that hiccup late in the game against Michigan. But you think about overall in that particular game I thought he was outstanding. The one play late, bad snap, it was all on Latham? Not really though, heck of a player.”

Latham was a highly-touted high school recruit ranked as a five-star prospect and the No. 2 overall player in the nation for the 2021 class according to the On3 Industry ranking. And after showing constant improvement throughout his college career with even more room to grow as a pro, it’s safe to say he’s lived up to the hype.

He was a Second-Team All-American selection by eight different publications and an All-SEC First-Team member after recording 41 knockdown blocks and allowing just two sacks last season. Production he could potentially replicate for Harbaugh and Herbert at the NFL level next season in the eyes of Kiper.